In the above referenced copending application there is described a perineal shield and discharge containment device comprising a sheet of flexible sheet material adapted for folding along pre-established fold lines which lines are disposed essentially in the same manner as the shield and containment device disclosed herein. The primary difference is that in the present invention the actual folding direction of the sheet along two pair of pre-established rearwardly diverging lines is substantially the reverse of that set forth in the parent application.
In the parent application, the device is described as comprising a sheet of flexible material of generally rectangular form adapted for folding on a set of pre-established fold lines. The sheet material is generally defined by a top body-contacting surface, a bottom surface, a front edge, a back edge, and two side edges. The pre-established fold lines along which the sheet material is folded prior to use comprise: (a) a main fold line centrally and longitudinally disposed along the major axis of the sheet and extending the full length of the sheet; (b) a first pair of rearwardly directed diverging fold lines originating on the main fold line from a common base point spaced inwardly from the front edge of the sheet, and extending to the sheet perimeter; and (c) a second pair of rearwardly directed diverging fold lines disposed between the first pair of diverging lines and the side edges of the sheet, with the second pair of lines also originating at the same common base point on the main fold line as the first set of lines and extending to the sheet perimeter.
The sheet material is adapted for inward folding on the main fold line, outward folding on the first pair of rearwardly diverging lines, and inward folding on the second pair of rearwardly diverging lines.
When the device is folded in accordance with the parent application, the rearward outwardly diverging portion is free to bend, twist and pivot around the base point and to flex up and down along the fold on the longitudinally extending center line whereby the device readily adjusts to body movements.
In the present arrangement, the device is folded inwardly instead of outwardly on the first pair of rearwardly diverging lines and outwardly rather than inwardly on the second pair of rearwardly diverging lines. With this reverse fold arrangement the ability to bend, twist, and pivot around the base point is lost, but the resulting structure is more stable and provides better containment for discharged body fluids. The stable structure of the present arrangement also permits it to be more readily used with its own suspension means so that a snug-fitting supporting undergarment is not necessary during use.
Accordingly, while the reverse fold arrangement of this invention loses some of the advantages of the folded device of the parent application, the present invention has its own distinctive advantages not found in the original concept.